


A Hamburger and fries

by nicksmom3612



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-19
Updated: 2012-11-19
Packaged: 2017-11-19 01:49:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/567696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nicksmom3612/pseuds/nicksmom3612
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumpelstiltskin and Belle have a hamburger and fries at Granny's, and Belle comes to some realizations about love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Hamburger and fries

Disclaimer: I own neither the show nor the characters. I don’t earn any money with this piece. I just do it for fun.

The sun was setting, displaying magnificently varied colors of orange, pink, and fiery red as it disappeared behind the horizon. Belle sat in a booth at Granny’s diner watching it out of the window, her hamburger and fries forgotten on her plate.

  
Rumpelstiltskin sat opposite her, eyes glued to her face as she took in one of nature’s grandest shows, her delight showing on her face. He knew that while many people took the beauty of a sunset for granted, Belle never would, having been denied it for almost thirty years,.. a tragic result of Regina‘s cruelty. He felt the rage building in him again at the mere thought of what Regina had done to her, and all because she knew that Belle meant more to him then his next breath, and he would do anything to protect her.

  
His thoughts grew dark as he mentally ticked off, once again, the many things that he could do to exact revenge on Regina without killing her. After all he had promised not to kill her, but maiming her, well nothing had been said about that.

  
Belle sighed and turning her attention back to him said, “it’s so beautiful, I wish there was a way to bottle it so I could take it out and look at it whenever I wanted.” He smiled at her enthusiasm and said “well I believe that I might be able to arrange that for you.” She laughed, ducking her head and looking up at him through her lashes, until she realized that he was quiet serious.

  
Looking at him, her eyes wide with wonder she whispered “could you really do that?” It was his turn to laugh as he replied, donning a look of mock hurt at her doubting him, “my dear you forget to whom you are speaking”, he paused for dramatic effect before continuing “of course I can.” Belle laughed and shook her head making her chestnut curls bounce in a way that made him ache to touch them… to touch her.

  
They sat looking at each other, ignoring the stares of the other patrons of Granny’s as they had all night.  
When the silence began to be strained Rumpelstiltskin asked “well how did you enjoy your first hamburger?”

  
“Oh, it was delicious,.. and the potatoes fried like that were great… I don’t know when I’ve had anything so good” Belle said without thinking, and instantly regretted adding that last part, as she saw the dangerous look that came into his eye’s. She tried to avoid talking about anything that reminded him of her captivity at Regina’s hands. It was like throwing gasoline on a fire, and he certainly didn’t need any encouragement, so she quickly tried to steer the conversation onto safer ground. “So how did you come to live in a pink house” she asked a smile turning up the corners of her mouth. (Ruby had told her that he hated it when someone referred to his house as ’pink’.)

  
A look of exasperation crossed his face until he realized that she was trying not to laugh. With exaggerated sternness he replied “my house is not pink, dearie, it’s salmon.” She laughed “yes Rumpel, of course, you just keep telling yourself that.” Her laughter rang out in the diner, and people turned to look at them, some shaking their heads at the unconventional couple.  
They continued to eat and talk, mostly about the time that they had spent together in the dark castle, and after having a desert of chocolate cake and ice cream, they headed towards his pawnshop.

  
As they walked down main street in the growing darkness, Rumpelstiltskin was careful to respect Belle’s wishes and keep his distance, and so was very surprised when she reached out to take his hand. He smiled as she continued talking about how much she had enjoyed cooking in the kitchen of the dark castle, as if nothing had happened. At this point he was grateful for whatever she was willing to give.

  
When they got to his shop he unlocked the door and ushered her in, closing the door behind them he found the light switch and flipped it on.

  
Belle looked around at the multitude of items that he had gathered over who knew how many years. To the casual observer it was a mess, but she knew him well enough to know that he knew exactly where everything was and kept it this way on purpose. He did nothing without a reason.

  
She watched as he went behind the counter, his movements fluid, purposeful, and elegant. She smiled, he had always fascinated her, since the very first time that she had laid eye’s on him in the war room at her father’s castle, prowling, almost catlike around the room, and commanding the attention of everyone there by his mere presence.

  
That night had changed her life forever. Now sitting in the pawnshop, watching him she knew that she had never stopped loving him, and she never would. The realization suddenly hit her that trying to force him to change was not fair. She had to accept him for who he was, and offer her love without condition, hoping that once he trusted that, he would become a man who made right choices (at least most of the time). But first he had to know that she would still love him even when he was wrong.  
Impulsively she went behind the counter, coming up behind him. He was talking, but she wasn’t hearing him. He turned when she didn’t respond, only to be startled when she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

  
At first he stiffened, but as her tongue pushed it’s way into his mouth, he let go of his usual tight control and pulled her in tight against his body. “Belle” he groaned as they broke for air, and then clutching a fistful of her hair, his mouth came down on hers in a lustful kiss that made Belle tremble. He let one hand slide down her body, pressing her against him even tighter, when she felt his hardness dig into her thigh, her knees gave out, and she would have crumpled to the floor without his support.  
Holding her firmly, he began to steer her towards the back of the shop as they continued to kiss.

*********************************************************

Charming, aka David Nolan, was strolling down main street just after sunset, doing the nightly patrol. His mind was elsewhere as he kept turning over the possible ways to bring his wife and daughter back from the realm they had been accidentally sent to. Now that Jefferson’s hat had been destroyed, the options were limited. The thought of never seeing them again was something that he didn’t let himself think about.

  
As he approached Gold’s Pawnshop he noticed that although the sign read closed, there were lights on in the back. It was unlike Rumpelstiltskin to leave the lights on and Charming braced himself for the possibility that there might be a robbery in progress.

  
He pulled his gun and trying the doorknob was surprised to find it unlocked. Now really concerned that someone had broken in he opened the door as quietly as possible, (damn that little bell).

  
Charming stood just inside the door for a moment as his eye’s adjusted to the darkness. Seeing nothing amiss in the front room he began to slowly and quietly walk toward the back where he could see light. As he approached he heard sounds. There was definitely someone back there, maybe more then one someone from the sound of it.

  
He was almost to the curtain that separated the two rooms when he heard what sounded like a woman moaning. Stopping dead in his tracks he paused. If he were any judge those were moans of pleasure, not pain, (he had heard Snow moan like that on numerous occasions). And then he heard the unmistakable voice of Rumpelstiltskin utter a single word in a rather husky tone “Belle”.

  
Standing there stunned for a moment, Charming smiled to himself. For some reason he was glad that Belle seemed to have given Rumpelstiltskin another chance. He had seen how devastated the other man had been when his true love had said that she never wanted to see him again. If magic always comes with a price then so does true love, a heavy price, your heart.

  
While others might still only see Rumpelstiltskin as a monster, he saw a little of what Belle saw in him, he saw good along with bad, as is the case with most people. Charming had a feeling that with Belle in his life the goodness in Rumpelstiltskin would, more often then not, overcome the bad. After all he had helped Henry with his nightmare and Charming would not forget that.  
The sounds from behind the curtain were becoming louder as things were obviously progressing. Charming hastely retreated out the front door, being as quite as possible, still smiling to himself, and thinking that it looked like Rumpelstiltskin had taken his dating advice to heart.

 

 


End file.
